• What: Michigan state against Rutgers
• When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
• Or: Madison Square Garden, New York
• Television/Radio: Radio CBS/Spartan Sports Network, including Wjim 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; Siriusxm ch. 197 (MSU broadcast), 372 (Rutgers broadcast)
• Records/rankings: MSU has a total sheet 16-2 in total, 7-0 in the Big Ten and is classified n ° 8 in the coach survey and in the poll of the Associated Press, and is n ° 14 according to the analysis site Kenpom.com university basketball. Rutgers has a 10-9 file in total, 3-5 in Big Ten and is not classified by the main polls, while being classified n ° 84 by Kenpom.
• Projected bet line: MSU -6 (via the score predicted by Kenpom, this is where Vegas obtains his line these days)
• Coaches: Michigan state -Tom Izzo has a 723-297 file in his 30th season as a chief coach, all with the Spartans. Rutgers – Steve Pikiell has a 339-306-119 file in his 22nd season as a NCAA head coach, including 142-132 in his ninth season with the Scarlet Knights.
• Series: MSU leads 13-3 of all time. MSU won the only meeting last season, but lost three consecutive games on the road against Rutgers – either on the Rutgers campus (2021 and 2022), at Madison Square Garden (2023).
Projected compositions
Msu
C (10) Szymón Zapala (7-0) 5.7
F (0) Jaxon Kohler (6-9) 7.9
G (3) Jaden Akins (6-4) 13.9
G (5) TRE Holloman (6-2) 8.1
PG (1) Jeremy Fears Jr. (6-2) 7.9
Rutgers
C (24) Lathan Sommerville (6-10) 7.2
F (4) AS Bailey (6-10) 19.9
F (9) Dylan Grant (6-7) 5.0
G (2) Dylan Harper (6-6) 19.3
G (5) Tyson Acuff (6-4) 4.0
• MSU update: The Spartans have just won one of their biggest victories of the season, 80-78 against Illinois at home on Sunday. Now, with more time to prepare, They will face an old enemy – Madison Square Garden. There too, they will face Rutgers. If they manage to go beyond the Scarlet Knights in the Garden on Saturday and the minnesota at home on Tuesday, they will have a 9-0 file in the Big Ten before February while they will go to the west to face the USC and UCLA. During seven conference games, MSU leads the Big Ten in terms of points differential from almost five points per game at 16.1. The Spartans also lead the conference as a percentage of free throws (83.2 %), in assists per game (19.7) and in blocked shots per game (5.1), and are classified n ° 1 in the championship in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom, as well as the percentage of offensive rebounds and 3 -point defense.
• Rutgers update: The Scarlet Knights have two of the best first -year students that Big Ten has seen for some time, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, who should possibly become n ° 2 and 3 during the next NBA draft. For the season, Bailey and Harper are n ° 2 and 3 of the Big Ten in terms of score, although the Harper figures fell during his seven conference games played (13.7 points per game). Collectively, Rutgers has sometimes had trouble, although the Scarlet Knights have improved lately, with victories against the UCLA, in Nebraska and a tight defeat in Penn State in their last three games. They beat Penn State at home earlier in the season and, in terms of adversaries common with MSU, they also dropped from 14 to Ohio State in December. If Rutgers wishes to participate in an NCAA tournament, a victory against the Spartans would be useful.
• Correspondence analysis: Unlike MSU, Rutgers is one of the least efficient teams in Big Ten at a conference. Apart from the offensive rebounds and blocked shots, the Scarlet Knights do nothing as a team in a particularly good and consistent manner on both sides of the field. But they have Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, which means that they will have the two most talented players on the field. Harper is a large long and competent goalkeeper who can mark on several levels. He missed a match and played sparingly in another while fighting the flu, which should be noted in the 3-5 Rutgers Big Ten record. Bailey is an athlete of long and fast higher level, which is good in defense of aid and essentially an attack in attack, despite his score of 6-10. He can mark on the drive thanks to his strength and hit difficult shots on the defenders with a large range. Bailey scored 39 points in Indiana earlier this month and 30 in Penn State this week-both defeats, however.
These two guys are frightening, good and difficult clashes, even in the first year. The size of rutgers on the wing-6-6 (Harper), 6-7 (Dylan Grant), 6-10 (Bailey) in the departure formation-makes it an interesting match. There is no correct answer to defend Bailey. I guess you will see Coen Carr, Frankie Fidler, Xavier Booker and Jaxon Kohler to be part of the equation, with a little help for the one on him. Jeremiah Williams is a competent and experienced guard on the Scarlet Knights bench, their second best offensive threat behind Bailey and Harper.
• Prediction: It is difficult to imagine that things are going well for MSU at Madison Square Garden, where the Spartans have a 4-17 file of all time, 4-13 under Izzo and 2-10 during their last 12 matches. With memorable misery. But if MSU is able to play to the pace he wishes, with the same balance he has shown on the road, and defends and bounces as he did for most of this conference season, the Spartans should Having enough to defeat Bailey and Harper from Rutgers. .
• Do it: MSU 80, Rutgers 73
MORE: Sofa: Jase Richardson’s journey, from a surgery threatening his career to the revelation of MSU basketball
Contact Graham Couch at gouch@lsj.com. Follow it on Twitter @Graham_Couch and Bluesky @grahamcouch.
This article was initially published in the Lansing State Journal: MSU basketball against Rutgers: prognosis, preview, TV information, Paris line
(Tagstotranslate) Madison Square Garden (T) Michigan State (T) Rutgers (T) Scarlet Knights (T) Ace Bailey (T) Dylan Harper (T) MSU (T) MSU Basketball (T) Spartans (T) Penn State (T) Big Ten (T) Tom Izzo (T) Jeremy Fears Jr. (T) Xavier Booker (T) Tyson Acuff
